Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a searching function.
Description of the Background Art
In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for a content addressable memory (CAM) due to proliferation of the Internet. In addition to the memory's original storage function of holding data, the CAM has a comparison function of detecting a match between the data input from the outside and the data held therein. This CAM is used mainly in a cache memory, an address translation table, and the like.
A search device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-192098 is configured to use a memory cell (CAM cell) incorporating a comparison function of detecting a match for each 1-bit storage circuit for holding data, to thereby detect a match between the data input from the outside and the data held in the storage circuit without reading the data held in the storage circuit.